


Coming Back to You

by grimdigee



Series: It All Ends Here [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Crying, Dialogue Heavy, Friendship, Gen, Good Ozai, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mental Instability, Presumed Dead, everyone thinks she's crazy and she's not, it's Azula, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25475767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimdigee/pseuds/grimdigee
Summary: As she watched the people moving up and down the streets like ants, Azula spied one person in particular, a young man who wore traditional Fire Nation wear.She stared at him, a cold fright washing over her...That was Zuko, Zuko was here, he was alive!Or, not all is as it seems...
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Azula & Mai (Avatar), Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: It All Ends Here [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825282
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	Coming Back to You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm burning out... This part was subpar imo, sorry :')

Zuko stood there in the middle of the street, now feeling awfully vulnerable.

Although most of his armour and clothing was taken or destroyed during the battle and after his imprisonment, Zuko was still wearing a red shirt, dark red belt around his stomach, keeping his shirt together, black pants and heavy black work boots.

Even though the outfit itself was simple, it donned the Fire Nation colors, that wasn't a good thing.

He bit his lip, if the whole world thought him dead, it was very unlikely the soldiers he saw would believe he was their fallen prince.

Zuko shuddered, turning on his heel, he might as well get some Earth Kingdom clothes, since he couldn't just waltz back into the Avatar's camp looking like a Fire Nation assassin.

The Fire Prince had spotted a store a ways back that sold clothing, he could probably afford something there.. Hopefully.

…

Azula rested her head on her open palm, pouting, her elbow was pressed uncomfortably into the sill of their open window.

She was watching the people below walk calmly, the streets bustling with Earth Kingdom peasants.

The Princess clearly had nothing better to do, and she wasn't very interested in joining her friends downstairs for dinner.

As she watched the people moving up and down the streets like ants, Azula spied one person in particular, a young man who wore traditional Fire Nation wear.

She stared at him, a cold fright washing over her...

That was Zuko, Zuko was here, he was alive!

Azula dashed out of the room, practically leaping down the stairs and stumbling at the bottom, she rushed towards the door before Ty Lee grabbed her arm.

“Az- Ala!! What's wrong?!” She said, spooked, Mai came around to block Azula's path and the Princess growled at her friends.

“Out of my way, I saw him, he's here, he's alive!!” Mai grabbed her panicking friend's shoulders.

“Ala! He's not! You KNOW he's not! Please, just... Just go to bed...” She said, breaking her emotionless persona to yell at the younger girl.

Azula felt her eyes burn, “No.. No!” She pushed past the taller teen, tripping outside into the street, she stared in the direction that her brother went, she was about to start running but Mai and Ty Lee dragged her back in.

She screamed, Ty Lee slapped a hand over the Princess' mouth.

Azula was vaguely aware of her comrades pulling her up the stairs, and of Ty Lee's gentle hands pushing her into bed.

She sobbed hysterically, halfheartedly trying to pull herself up and out into the road again, but Ty Lee kept her down.

She heard over he cries Mai talking to the hotel owner, who had come to see about the commotion.

“I'm sorry sir.. You see.. Ala lost her brother recently in the war, she.. Sees him sometimes, and convinces herself he's alive..” Mai explained, the owner nodded in understanding.

“I see, miss. I will let the event go, but I do have to say, if it happens again I will unfortunately be forced to remove you from the building.” He said solemnly.

Mai smiled softly, “Thank you sir, I understand.” She bowed slightly as he left before shutting the door.

Her and Ty Lee looked to each other, a quiet agreement passing between them.

'If it happens again, we will turn her in to the Firelord.'

…

Zuko grinned, staring into the mirror, he heard the man behind him chuckle.

“You look good kid.” He said, before holding up Zuko's old clothes, minus his shoes, since he decided to keep them.

“So, you still on for the trade?” Zuko nodded.

“Yes sir, I am.” The man blinked, before smiling wide.

“Well, if you say so.” He said, whipping around and finding a good place to store the clothing.

Zuko was well aware of why the man was surprised, said man probably assumed Zuko was an idiot, but no, those clothes were made out of unnecessarily expensive fabrics.

And he was trading them for average Earth Kingdom clothing, it didn't seem like a fair trade at all, but Zuko was willing, he needed these if he was ever going to get by.

Now he could get back to Sokka without suspicion, he needed to speak with the Water Tribe boy.

Zuko tried not to think too hard on his family, he knew he would be reunited with them... Soon.

…

Iroh sat calmly at a Pai Sho table in the corner of a small tavern, he was waiting patently for a game partner.

Luckily one came soon after his arrival, an old man sat across from him and smiled crookedly.

“Up for a game, friend?” The man asked, already going to pull some pieces out, readying his first move.

Iroh smiled back.

“Always.” He replied merrily, before placing his White Lotus tile on the board.

“Always...”

…

Aang and Katara were fast asleep at the other end of the campfire, they didn't bother setting up tents, considering they were leaving first thing in the morning.

Sokka lay, staring at the moon.

'I wonder if she's watching me..' He thought, heart clenching mournfully at the thought of the spirit blessed girl, whom he had fallen in love with.

A branch snapped behind him, Sokka whipped around, hand immediately grasping at his boomerang before he paused.

A very familiar face peered out at him from the forest, a smirk painted in place of the once threatening scowl.

Zuko stepped out from the woods, dressed in common Earth Kingdom clothing, a green long-sleeved shirt with a dark green tunic tied over top, simple black pants and the same war boots he had worn before.

Even the boy's hair was tied back into a traditionally Earth Kingdom top-knot, all completed by a forest green headband.

“Zuko? What are you doing back here? And where did you get those clothes?” Sokka asked, whispering loudly at his friend before closing the distance and pushing him back into the forest, hiding the two from view in case Aang or Katara woke.

“I traded my clothing in for these, but there's more to explain, I'll try to keep it short... I'm dead.” Zuko said quickly.

Sokka stood in silence, staring at the Firebender with a blank look.

“Uh, well, not really, obviously, but I'm presumed dead.. I wasn't lying when I said my family was high ranking, I overheard some people in town talking about me, they said that I was killed in the battle at the North Pole.” The teen explained, turning his eyes away from Sokka.

Sokka nodded very slowly, taking the information in.

“Okay... So, you're dead, what does that mean for you?” He asked, confusion clear on his expression.

“Well, I can't just waltz up to some soldiers and say 'Hey! I'm that one kid who was pronounced dead at a battle a little over a month ago! Could you take me home?' There's no WAY they'd believe that.” He complained, flailing his arms around.

Sokka hummed, agreeing quietly.

“Right, well, you live in the Fire Nation, meaning we can't really take you back.. So..” The Water Tribe warrior said, biting his lip and turning to look at his sleeping friends.

“I know you can't, I wasn't asking you to.” Zuko smiled at him, placing a hand on his hip.

Sokka furrowed his brow, “But... If you aren't, then why are you here?” He asked, voice wavering lightly.

“I want to come with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I might wait a bit longer to post the next part cause I'm starting to burn out, not exactly on writing itself, I've got plenty of ideas, but I'm spending all my time on this series now and I gotta write something else.
> 
> I might take next posting time to do something else? I'm really sorry if I do :(
> 
> Oh yeah, just to explain, Zuko doesn't have completely good intentions with joining the gaang, he does still think the war is justified after all.
> 
> So no, Zuko didn't just switch sides all together with no real reason besides "I like this Water Tribe boy", but don't worry, it's coming ;)


End file.
